My family has metamorphosed so many times since I was a child, that the traditions have changed right along with it. There are some things that stayed constant though. My mother always wrapped every little thing that was in our stockings, no matter how small. Some years we would wake up to find a string we would have to follow to find the stockings! It wasn't a short string either, it went around the house and outside! One year my stocking was in the dryer, lol.
When we lived in Conn we would go to a tree farm and cut our own tree, that is an amazing thing to do with a child, at least for me it is a lasting memory.
My mother always made her advent wreath with something called Princess Pine, we gathered it in the woods behind our house.
Once my generation grew to adulthood and there were so many more people involved, plus we lived in a different place, traditions changed. When my grandmother was alive, everyone would gather at her house for a Christmas breakfast. It happened at the unholy hour of 9 am!!! Everyone was expected to show up, regardless if they had kids or not. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't because I can't imagine dragging my kids away from their house without a huge fuss. It did change location to my cousins house once she had more then one child. When we were there, we would exchange presents with those people.
It got to be too much after a couple of years to get up, go to my Grandmother's, lugging, I kid you not at least three or four laundry baskets FULL of presents, exchange gifts, eat and come home. By then we were already tired, but the day was young! After that we had to get dressed for the day, since we usually went out with our PJ's on, a very special thing, and start dinner prep, since the Christmas Dinner, was at our house. Any last minute things had to be finished as well, including cleaning and getting the animals put up and safe. It didn't leave any time for opening presents with the immediate family, at least not and enjoy them. Eventually it changed so that the people at my house, the four of us, would wait to exchange gifts until the day after Christmas. If we felt like it and weren't too tired after the dinner, we would sit down and do stockings. We still got those as adults mind you! Then the next day, we would plan a day of relaxation, and opening gifts, while feasting on left overs and doing nothing strenuous. That wound up being a lot more satisfiying.
Then we had our own kid(s). Enter Twelfth Night. We decided it was just way too much to try and do in one day. So we started celebrating 12th night. We have a lot less family now, and could probably do it all on one day, but why? We enjoy stretching it out over the course of time. It solves the problem of too much to do and not enough time. The kids get to enjoy the Christmas time without the huge let down that usually follows "THE DAY". That was something I hated when I was a kid. All that build up, for grown ups to go crazy, things to be rushed, and then, WHAM, it was over. All done, no more. And it isn't like New Year's Eve matters to a kid to look forward to, all that means is it is time to go back to school. So...I changed it. I decided my family was going to have different traditions. My mother and father, grandmother and brother are gone. I am the only one left of our side of the family, and I don't live near my cousins and Aunt and Uncle. My dh has two siblings from his father's second family that we are only close to one of. And she has her own extended family to be with on Christmas.
My extended family isn't blood related. It is my dearest friend in all the world, her husband and children. She has stood with me through the years and I by her, and now as we are in this phase of our lives, we are starting new traditions with each other and our own families.
Sorry so long, just seemed to flow out.
Rachel
